Photo by daliborlevYou can do a great job constructing a badly designed house. But when you are through, you’ve still got a badly designed house. Right? It doesn’t matter how good you are with a hammer if the blueprints themselves are faulty. Ads are like houses.
It doesn’t matter how good you are with nouns or verbs when the core message is boring. There is no good way to tell a bad story. And ultimately, it’s the core message of your campaign that determines the success of your advertising.
Give a powerful core message to an average writer and the little business on the corner can leap from Main Street to Wall Street. But give an average message to a powerful writer and ….yeah, you get it.
Photo by seier+seier+seierA lot of people are looking for change right now. If you currently work with an advertising agency, spend just a few moments thinking about the following questions and your responses to them. We believe that any answer you may have that equals “less than exceeds most expectations” may be an opportunity for a new more productive relationship. A prospect we’d welcome exploring.
1) Overall how do you rate your agency’s creative team on your business?
2) Does your agency appoint sufficiently qualified creative talent to meet your needs in?
Photo by JerrySilfwerThese days, more and more clients are hiring us for one of two reasons—“Get me in the news!” or “Get me out of the news!” Advertising is what you buy from the sales department of the media. Public Relations (PR) is what you get from the news department—some of it good, some of it not so good.
How many ads do you suppose a good news story is worth?
Q: Which of the following statements is false?
1. Thomas Edison invented electric light.
2. Guglielmo Marconi invented radio.
3. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
Regardless of which statement you think to be untrue, you’re exactly one-third correct; because all three statements are false. Read the rest of this entry »
I was recently asked to make a presentation to a group of business owners regarding social media and its use in generating bona fide prospects. I used our project- http://marketinggrader.net as the focal point of my presentation as it has been an extremely successful tool at generating leads for us. Social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay and there are numerous ways to exploit it for your business gain. The presentation lacks notes and of course the extra’s and examples I gave out in the seminar. If you have any questions or would like for me to make this presentation in person or remotely, for you, your group or business, please let me know.
Photo by Photocapy Photo by Photocapy Photo by PhotocapyThis is an innovative move on Coca-Cola’s part. By introducing its well-known carbonated drink in a smaller size, the soft drink giant is ensuring it resonates with consumers who are watching what they eat and how many calories they’re consuming.
The 7.5-fluid-oz can is red with a white image of a Coke bottle, and will be available in eight packs. Other brands will be available in 90-calorie cans, including Sprite, Fanta Orange, Cherry Coca-Cola, and Barq’s Root Beer.
The new can will roll out in Washington, D.C. and New York City in December and is expected to launch throughout the rest of the country by March 2010.
But Coca-Cola isn’t alone in marrying portion-control with a package overahaul. According to Mintel’s Packaging Trends in Food and Drink – U.S.- March 2009 report, some brands are taking a holistic approach to health and completely overhauling their packaging to better convey the product’s health qualities.
Kraft’s Crystal Light brand has introduced environmentally friendly beverage packaging that features a new 1-quart packet size in the 8-quart canister. The new design helps consumers control how much they want to drink. A window on the front of the canister also shows when packets are running low.
In addition to introducing the 90-calorie mini can, Coca-Cola has announced plans to display calorie information on the front of most of its beverage packages, including Sprite, Powerade, and Full Throttle. This tactic will resonate well with soda drinkers, as they will be able to see how many calories are in their favorite drink so they can adjust their diet accordingly.
Coca-Cola is giving consumers who have moved away from traditional CSDs a reason to come back: portion control. But the interesting – it’s cute! – packaging is also giving its brand fans something new – both to talk about and to consume.
